There’s hot chocolate and then there’s the warm, silky-smooth blend of housemade ganache and milk they whip up at MarieBette Café & Bakery. Rich, just thick enough and not too sweet, this cuppa wonderful is made to be sipped slowly and savored. It’s a grown-up version of a childhood favorite, served in a place that treats […]

Pork, apples and mustard. It’s a quintessential autumn combination and one that Early Mountain Vineyards chef Ryan Collins says he’s most looking forward to cooking as the weather turns cold. “I love to take advantage of the bounty of Virginia’s wide array of apples, with tender pork, sticky pork sauce, smooth mustard and crunchy apples […]

You’re at a tailgate party outside Scott Stadium taking down dogs and burgers two at a time. You’re thinking, “I don’t want to pay a bunch of money inside for food. I’ll fill up now.” This year, you might want to think again. According to Matt Smythe, director of operations for Aramark’s UVA dining program, […]

Bill Yenovkian laughs as he attempts to describe the perfect Thanksgiving turkey “without sounding pornographic.” You want a “full, nice-shaped bird,” the longtime Foods of All Nations butcher begins. And then he stops, embarrassed, and tries again: “You want a rounded, plump breast…” Why don’t we start with the number of people you’re serving and […]

Cauliflower, the hearty veggie cousin of broccoli, kale and cabbage, is mimicking everything from pizza crust to rice to mashed potatoes. But it’s a star in its own right—no reinvention needed. From appetizers to main dishes, restaurants are featuring florets in a variety of ways. Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria Cavolfiore al forno, $6 Lampo in Belmont is […]

High-proof liquor is usually the main ingredient in a mixed drink, but the lesser-known category of beer cocktails bends the traditional definition. It’s a little-known fact that many of Charlottesville’s bartenders regularly mix up beer cocktails. These are often made for themselves or friends who are in the know, but rarely appear on a formal […]

The water where the Rappahannock River meets the Chesapeake Bay had grown murky. Plant life was struggling. The solution? According to restaurateur and oyster farmer Travis Croxton, it was a no-brainer. Revive the oyster beds. As the beneficial bivalves feed on plankton and other organic matter, they also remove particles and muck, producing clear seas […]

How do we like them apples? In cobblestoned layers beneath a tender, flaky crust, that’s how. Which is why, this fall, we’re voting for a slice from The Pie Chest, which owner Rachel Pennington packs with Granny Smith apples first marinated in a cinnamon and sugar mixture, then sautéed in a caramel made with Southern Comfort and baked in a […]

You may have explored the Virginia Wine Trail, but if you want a meal with your wine, you can sample area selections at a few choice restaurants around Charlottesville. Here are some must-visit places for great food and wine pairings. Wine and brine Start your food and wine crawl with some raw oysters at Public […]

The summer issue of Knife & Fork is out! From sweet tea’s Southernness to a local pastry chef’s favorite ice cream, this issue is packed full of tasty morsels from the Charlottesville dining scene. Here’s what you’ll find inside: The Whiskey Jar’s secret to the perfect tomato sandwich. These five tomato dishes? Our main squeeze. Fleurie’s […]

It’s hard to resist eating out for every meal in a town like Charlottesville, but ain’t nobody got money for that. So we cooked up a list of our favorite cheap eats—the expected ($3 dumplings at Marco & Luca, obviously) to the not-so-expected (read: grit bowl). They run the cuisine gamut, from Asian to Mexican […]

John Hoffman has been the executive chef at Fossett’s for just over a month, but he’s already bringing a Southern influence to the kitchen. He previously worked at Keswick’s sister hotel, The Sanctuary, on South Carolina’s Kiawah Island for four years before moving to Virginia. We asked him to share a recipe he’s looking forward to cooking for […]

Ice to a bartender is like fire for a chef: The amount and type you use will affect the outcome of the final product. Let’s talk about the main types of ice bartenders tend to use. Large format or block cubes: These are used for chilling a drink without adding much dilution, like with a […]

Like any good Southern recipe, the origins of sweet tea are about as clear as an oversteeped pitcher of Lipton. Southerners of all stripes clamor for their own little piece of the beverage’s lore. Central Virginia, it seems, doesn’t have much of a stake. Thomas Jefferson certainly loved his tea—his financial records show he purchased […]

Serge Torres, Fleurie’s pastry chef since November 2015, grew up watching his mom, a chef, and helping her in the kitchen. But it was his sweet tooth that led him to focus on pastry. “I really enjoy the diversity of options that come with the profession and being able to express my creativity by making […]

It’s honey season, y’all! Bee colonies like the ones at Hungry Hill Farm have been buzzing around for months, and it’s time to reap the rewards. According to farm owner Glenn Clayton, June and July are the “height of the honey flow,” and one beehive can hold upward of 60,000 honeybees this time of year. […]

What makes the perfect tomato sandwich? We think The Whiskey Jar serves one of the best in town, so we went straight to the source. “I and my entire staff wait all year long for the tomatoes to come back,” says owner Will Richey. “It is heresy to use an out-of-season tomato and simply stupid. […]

If we could assign a color to each season, it’d go something like this: orange for summer, red for fall, blue for winter. And for spring? Green. It’s the color that symbolizes growth and, for a season in which everything, er, springs back to life, we couldn’t think of a better topic than nutrient-rich leafy […]

Over the course of a dozen centuries, wines from France’s Bordeaux region have revolutionized today’s world of wine. As ground zero for some of the globe’s most widely grown grape varieties, Bordeaux itself is as valuable as its far-reaching and varied diasporas. Virginia embodies pieces of a Bordeaux diaspora, so to truly understand Virginia wine, […]

Whether Arley Arrington is frying donuts at Brookville or whipping up macarons in her home kitchen, we just can’t get enough of her sweets. We asked the owner of local baking company Arley Cakes a few questions—from her guilty pleasure food to how to make her strawberry tart at home. Knife & Fork: What’s your […]

It’s dinnertime at chef Diana Sbaitri’s house. She’s put two plates on the table, one for her and one for her husband, Morad. There’s just one thing missing: Morad. A chef based in Berkane, Morocco, he’s in the process of getting a visa to live in America with his wife. To cope with the distance […]